Watches and Wonders 2024: Van Cleef & Arpels's new expressions of its Poetic Complication

Gloria Fung finds the romance in Van Cleef & Arpels’s newest designs

Expressing romance through its designs is what jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels do best. The brand’s poetic approach to watchmaking has resulted in many designs that blend beauty with playful whimsy. Among the most classic examples of this is the house’s Rendezvous watch, which sees a retrograde function employed to depict two lovers meeting and parting ways on a bridge. 

An artisan through and through the house is also able to express watchmaking through the eyes, craftsmanship and ethos of a jeweller. The result is timepieces that, while not always covered entirely in gems, still convey the refinement and impeccable finishing almost exclusively reserved in luxury high jewellery making. 

Van Cleef & Arpels continues its love story with haute horology at this year’s Watches and Wonders, combining one of its most celebrated complications with yet another romantic expression of motion and time. 

This year’s star novelties are Lady Arpels Jour Nuit and Lady Jour Nuit. The design pays homage to the beauty and romance that comes to life under the starry night sky and the elaborate display of the Maison’s exceptional handle on high jewellery, making savoir-faire. 

Part of the Maison’s long-standing Poetic Complications collection is the Lady Arpels Jour Nuit 38 mm reference, with a smaller 33mm reference dubbed the Lady Jour Nuit. The scenery across the dial changes throughout the course of the day, from sunrise to sunset to moonrise, serving as the day/night indicator. 

The white gold pieces are beautifully decorated with diamonds and sapphires, with the dials fashioned out of aventurine, nodding to the glistening night skies: the moon and sun atop a rotating disk complete a full journey every 24 hours. 

While self-winding complications seem understated, the results are anything but. The large moon and sun, in mother-of-pearl and gold, respectively, span the top half of the dial, while the lower part represents the horizon, in mother-of-pearl for the Lady Arpels version and in Murano aventurine glass for the smaller Lady version. Along with the oversized day/night indication, the movement powers the central hour and minute hands. ​​The watch comes with the option of a blue alligator strap or a full diamond pave bracelet for both sizes. 

Also see: Watches and Wonders 2024: The tourbillon takes centre stage at Roger Dubuis